


Horns

by OliveTheClimber



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Character Death, Demons, Depression, F/F, Horns, Horns AU, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Self-Harm, Triggers, alternative universe, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-05 17:06:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19841332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliveTheClimber/pseuds/OliveTheClimber
Summary: After they found the body, Chloe Price was torn apart. Her entire world, her future, taken away from her within a single moment. It wasn't fair. Nothing for Chloe ever is. Especially when everyone thinks your the murderer. Wracked with the emotions of a thousand suns, Chloe one day discovers horns protruding from her head. These horns grant her powers beyond her wildest imagination. With these new abilities in tow, Chloe will find who killed her beloved, or die trying. With her old best friend, Max Caulfield, by her side. How could she fail?





	1. Horns

**Author's Note:**

> Yes another new AU. It is based on the film, Horns, starring Daniel Radcliffe. This is really my main focus at the moment thanks to us teaming up and working together to create a darker story line for Life is Strange. I hope you all enjoy and leave comments below as always! Thank you for reading, please enjoy!

Chloe sat there, alone in her room, smoking her cigarette as time passed in slow motion. How could this have happened, she wondered to herself. This had to have been a lie, right? There’s no way it was true. When Rachel had vanished, Chloe hadn’t any idea what had happened to her girlfriend. How could she… How could she possibly be gone? Three days… Three days since that fateful call.

Rachel Amber, her angel, the one who had saved her from the pit of death that she had wandered into. It couldn’t be true, but she could only remember getting the call. She didn’t really much care for James Amber, but it still hit her like a bus. The voice breaking down on the phone to let her know… to let her know that earlier that morning they had found the body of Rachel Amber. At their favorite place, the American Rust junkyard. 

The blue-haired girl wanted to scream or cry or feel anything. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t feel a damn thing. Just an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to roar out in anguish and pain, but there was nothing there except confusion and loss. Joyce had come in to check on her daughter, but Chloe couldn’t respond. There was nothing to say other than “I need to be alone.” For once though, Joyce understood and let Chloe be by herself. Chloe needed time to think.

She cried out in pain internally. The blue-haired girl didn’t care anymore, as she got up from her bed and went to her laptop. Luckily for her, all of Rachel’s log-in data and such was saved to Chloe’s computer. She needed to know where Rachel was last night after she left.

Chloe was the last person to see her before she died, apparently. No one was coming for Chloe though. For once in her life she was glad Joyce and step-shit were home to be her alibi. Of course that didn’t stop the public from looking at Chloe as if she were the culprit. She tried to access Rachel’s account online. The password had been changed.

“Fuck.” Chloe said rather plainly, as she used her own account to check in on Rachel’s accounts. Of course, her father was the district attorney. It wasn’t surprising that her accounts were probably all seized for evidence. Her Facebook page was already turned into a memorial account. “Well that was fucking fast.” Chloe was angry. None of these people knew Rachel like she did, and now they were all pretending to care about her? Yeah, sure they cared. They cared so much that they went after Chloe, her inbox flooded with questions asking her if she did it. If the rumors were true that she had murdered the girl she loved. What assholes, Chloe thought.

Clicking her tongue, a bit, Chloe leaned back in her chair and looked around the room. It seemed so empty without Rachel being there. Waking up in bed with Rachel next to her, while they discussed their future of escaping Arcadia Bay one day when they had the money. It was going to be their future, together. And now that future was gone, stolen from them by some monster who decided that it’d be right enough to kill her. 

She dropped her cigarette on the floor of the room, before smashing it with her foot. She was going to find out who killed her. She would find out who killed her. That was just a given. The police were too inept to solve anything even if they did have the DA breathing down their backs. This wasn’t their fight though. This was personal. This was Chloe’s to solve. Taking a deep breath, she got herself ready to go check out the crime scene. As she put on her beanie, however, she felt something on her head. 

“What the…” Chloe said to herself, as she walked over to her mirror and looked at herself in it. She leaned forward to look at her head, and noticed two bumps on it. They were small bumps, but they were protruding upwards. Chloe poked one of them, and felt a sharp pain in her head. It was as if they were sore bug bites that hurt on touch. However, they hurt way more than a fucking bug bite. Chloe ignored them for now as she tugged her beanie over her head. They were probably spider bites or something, god knows this old house is probably infested with them.

She grabbed her car keys off her desk, and closed up her laptop. Down the stairs she went, her angry feet tapping against the floorboards. Joyce was still at home, for the moment, not working until later, and she made immediate notice of her daughter’s descent.

“Chloe, come here for a sec!” Joyce called, causing Chloe to groan a bit and head over to her mom, putting on her best annoyed face. She had to keep up that this wasn’t going to deter her.

“What is it, Joyce?” Chloe asked, stumbling into the kitchen.

“You came flying down the stairs so quick, I thought you’d run out without telling me where you’re going.” Joyce said, doing the dishes and looking over to Chloe. The annoyed blue-haired girl rolled her eyes a bit.

“I’m just gonna take a drive. I need time outside of this hellhole of a house.”

“Chloe, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’m not just gonna stay shacked up in here all the time because of what those assholes on the news rumor about me!” Chloe said, her anger spilling through her more annoyed tone. “Even after Rachel’s dad went on the news and said no charges were being filed against me, they still go on and on about how I did it!” She really did bottle it up a bit, didn’t she? Fuck.

“Chloe, I know you would never hurt Rachel. I could see how much you loved and cared about her. But people out there… They don’t care to understand, I can hear the murmurs at the Two Whales. I just worry for your safety.” Joyce said, turning around to face her daughter. She looked genuinely concerned. Chloe sighed a little bit as she put a hand on her mom’s shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. 

“I’ll be fine, mom, okay? I know not to talk to anyone that looks like a reporter, and to avoid the public at all costs. I just need some fresh air.” Chloe said, causing Joyce to sigh a bit and nod.

“Alright, Chloe. I understand how difficult of a time this is for you, so if this is what you need, you should take some time out. Just… Just be careful, okay?” Joyce said, as Chloe smiled a bit and leaned back towards the door frame of the kitchen. Chloe nodded and waved as she headed outside of the house.

Luckily, no one was harassing her outside her home. But she knew if she headed into town, that would be a whole different story. Getting into her truck, she only had one place in mind to go. And she needed to go to the junkyard, she had to find out something… Anything. She turned on the radio as she pulled out of the driveway, and headed down the street.

It seemed like a dreadfully long ride. To be returning to the place where she and Rachel really got to know each other when they had first met. To know that… to know that Rachel was murdered there hurt her soul. That was another reason people suspected Chloe of the murder, because she hung out with Rachel all the time at American Rust. It disgusted Chloe to think that anyone would think that.

Chloe could only see the news as her enemy, for purposefully reporting that she had done it, before any real evidence or alibi or even the fucking district attorney saying anything. They just reported that she was the prime suspect before the police had even talked to her. She hated the idea that anyone would think that she, who loved Rachel with all her heart, would go on to kill her. It bothered her to no end, especially since she was home the night that Rachel died. Thank god for step-fuck and his million cameras around the house, Chloe thought to herself.

Soon enough, she had arrived at American Rust. Some of it was blockaded off with yellow police tape, but Chloe didn’t really fucking care at that point. All she wanted was to see what had happened to her home away from home.

Luckily for her, the police had only rifled through the area where they had discovered her corpse. The small area where she and Rachel usually hung out and had made a small home was left untouched. Maybe it was just a miracle that no one had touched it. If the police had gone through the things left here, she would have been furious. Even more so than she already was. 

She entered their hideout and sighed a little bit, as she walked over towards the wall and placed her hand against it. 

**_Chloe was here_ **

**_Rachel was here_ **

Chloe felt sick to her stomach.

“I’m sorry, Rachel…” Chloe said, looking at the handwriting of her beloved. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…! It’s not fair…! Someone took you away from me, and our future!” Fuck this was breaking Chloe down hard. She was holding strong until she saw Rachel’s handwriting. She slowly moved her hand across the wall, before turning around and sliding down to the ground. For a while she just allowed her emotions to pour out, and sob a bit. Her whole world was falling apart. Again. Just like when William died… Like when Max left right after… Now Rachel is dead too? Why did the universe like to exclusively take a shit on her, and her only?

Everything always fell apart for Chloe, and she hated it. She wanted the world to go fuck itself, and instead the world decides to fuck her over and make her the enemy here. She couldn’t even show herself in public without people seeing some sort of monster. A devil. Suddenly, there was a freak strain of pain in her head.

“Ah fuck! Fuck, fuck! What the fuck?!” Chloe yelled, as she leaned over onto the ground and clutched her head in pain. It was the same sharp pain from earlier, when she poked those bumps, but this time it was like someone turned it up to eleven. The pain was overbearing, as she let out a shrill scream, something she would normally never do. Eventually the searing pain subsided, and Chloe was left panting on the ground. 

Slowly, but surely, she managed to regain her composure and pull herself up to her feet, still panting a bit. Stumbling a bit, her beanie fell to the floor, and she looked at herself in the reflection of the glass window. 

“Okay… What the actual fuck is this?” Chloe asked herself, as she looked at the reflection before her. It was her, but… the two bumps from earlier were long gone. In their place were two sprouting horns like she were some sort of goat. As she touched them, she felt a bit of pain coming from them. “Horns…? What the fuck is this shit? This isn’t real…!” Chloe began to pace back and forth for a few minutes.

“There’s no horns there, Chloe, you’re just losing your mind because the universe hates you.” She said, as she bent over and picked up her beanie from the ground. She patted the debris of the floor off of it before trying to put it on again. “All you need to do is get out of your bad headspace, and breathe… Just breathe!”

“OUCH!” Chloe yelled, as she felt the pain stinging down from her head again. The horns were in the way. She looked at herself in the window again, and growled a bit. “Okay, cool story, these are fucking real. Not fake.” She poked them again, eliciting a spring of pain once more. “Real horns… Fuck, how did this happen? Lemme guess, another big fuck you from the universe?” She pulled out the middle fingers and flipped off the sky. “Well… FUCK YOU TOO UNIVERSE!”

She took a few more deep breaths to calm herself down, before she put the beanie a bit further back on her head. Being here didn’t solve anything, it only brought her pain. The only way she was gonna solve anything was if she headed down to hell itself, Blackwell Academy. Someone had to know something about what happened to Rachel. And she was gonna find out what.


	2. Blackhell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe heads to Blackwell, meeting someone from her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, another day. I really am enjoying this story! I hope you all are too <3 Please remember to comment, as I love to hear your thoughts!

The pickup truck made its way through the town and towards Blackwell Academy. It was getting ot be quite later in the day, so Chloe knew people would just be hanging around outside on campus like always. Picking up Rachel from school were better days. They’d fuck around outside, maybe play a game of DnD with Mikey and Steph… better days, Chloe thought to herself.

Chloe had been planning on setting up posters asking for any information regarding Rachel’s death, something she had actually worked hard, the previous day but she hadn’t gone out until now. She would put them pretty much anywhere and everywhere, for anyone who actually wanted to help them figure out who murdered Rachel.

She parked across two parking spots, because fuck Blackhell Academy. Chloe remembered being so excited, originally, to be attending the school for her high marks in science. But after William died, she cared less about everything related to school. She got a little bit better after meeting Rachel, but with her expulsion, Chloe ended up simply not caring. She convinced herself she’d get her GED one day though. After she escaped Arcadia Bay with Rachel… Just thinking about all of it made Chloe saddened.

Putting on some headphones, playing some music to block out the rest of the world, Chloe got to work. She put up the hood on her coat, to block the horns out since the beanie obviously wasn’t doing it for her. Also it would keep anyone from noticing it was her out and about and not behind some cells.

The posters were pretty simple. They had phone numbers attached that led to James Amber and the Arcadia Bay police department, as well as an anonymous tip line that Chloe had on a burner phone. She didn’t want to give away her real phone number and get plagued by a bunch of idiots who would tell her to turn herself in.

She headed to the message board outside in the middle of the campus near the statue of Blackwell. She slid open the glass doors and placed a couple of her posters within, before sliding it closed. She didn’t really care who got mad at her over it, because it was simple. She was looking for Rachel’s murderer, and this would help… hopefully.

Chloe went around the campus, putting a few more posters around. She’d have to put some up around the inside of the school sometime soon. She didn’t want to get too busted for her posters. Wells was the biggest douche in Blackwell, somehow outdoing David in some aspects. David was a huge dick, no doubt, but Wells was equally bad when it came to Chloe.

The horned girl headed up toward the dorms to place a few more posters, and decided to take a small break to smoke a cigarette. She put her posters on the steps to the girl’s dorm, before sitting down next to them. She pulled out her lighter from her pocket, lighting the cigarette she also pulled out, and taking a short break to smoke.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show her face in public.” A very annoying voice said, coming out from in front of her. Chloe knew that voice, it belonged to one of the people at Blackwell she hated most. Victoria Chase. Chloe’s eyes traveled upwards as she smoked. Her cronies were with her too, great.

“Wow, it’s been years and you’re still a total bitch? Guess things don’t change. Ever.” Chloe said, annoyed and continuing to smoke her cigarette.

“To be fair, you’re still a total loser.” Victoria said, waving her hand a little. “Now get out of our way.”

“How about I don’t get out of my way, and you go fuck yourself until I’m done smoking?” Chloe asked, not wanting to deal with this right now.

“How about you go fuck yourself all the way to prison?” Victoria said. “You know, I’m so glad Rachel Amber is finally fucking dead, and who thought that skank’s deadbeat girlfriend would be the one to do it? She was always such a two-timing bitch, and of course you couldn’t even see it.”

“The fuck did you just say?” Chloe asked, her cigarette falling to the ground from her finger.

“You heard what I said. I’m glad Rachel Amber is dead. Now no one will ever feel the need to think she’s the princess of Arcadia Bay or Blackwell. I can finally take that role as the only worthwhile person to come out of Arcadia Bay.”

“Oh fuck off, Victoria.” Chloe said, getting to her feet with her posters in her hands. Victoria just laughed, while her cronies looked a little confused. Chloe could tell they weren’t sure why Victoria was spouting this shit. Victoria looked at Chloe for a moment, before smacking the posters out her hand. 

“Only if you fuck off first, right to hell where you belong you fucking dyke.” 

“Come on Victoria, let’s.. ummm, let’s go okay?” Taylor said, grabbing onto Victoria’s arm. Chloe looked over to Taylor, and Taylor stared back. “Don’t be such a fucking bitch, Victoria. You think you’re so high and mighty, when you’re really not. Why are you so fucking wishy washy? One minute you’re there for me about my mom, and then the next you’re being a total bitch to me and Courtney.”

Woah, Chloe thought to herself. In-fighting amongst the bitches? That’s out of nowhere.

“W… What the fuck, Taylor? You know you’re my best friend!” Victoria said, confused.

“Well you just walk all over anyone you want to, and don’t care about anyone other than yourself! As long as you win out in the end, who cares what other people want?!”

“I never… You…!” Victoria stormed off inside, with Courtney in tow. Taylor took a few deep breaths, while looking at Chloe a bit. 

“You have… horns?”

“Yeah what about them?”

“I…” She looked away, as if she completely forgot what the horns were. “What did I just say? Damn it! Victoria!” Taylor ran past Chloe, up the stairs into the dorms, leaving Chloe alone again. 

“What the fuck was all that?” Chloe said, rolling her eyes a bit. She didn’t even get a single fist or word into that conversation. Why did Victoria say all that? Why did Taylor say all that? Chloe noticed some of her anger subsided when they were yelling at one another. Her horns didn’t even hurt… Maybe the horns had something to do with their behavior? 

“That would make sense…” Chloe said to herself, as she bent over to pick up some of the posters, while wondering what the horns did. She wanted to try it out on someone else to confirm her theory. Most of her anger subsided, but Chloe was still raging to leave Blackhell for today.

As Chloe walked away, completely freaked and raged out by Victoria and her friends saying that shit to her without a hint of shame, she saw someone taking a picture of a squirrel that was sitting next to a tree. The person, a girl, had short brown hair, and Chloe approached just to get a better look at what she was doing. And then, like a flash of a camera, it hit her. Short brown hair? Aggressively taking pictures of anything they seem good? 

“Holy shit… Max…? Max Caulfield?” Chloe said, walking over to the very emo hipster dressed girl. Chloe would have never guessed this was Max, not in a million years. She wore torn jeans, showing off some of the skin on her legs, an oversized green coat, and a grey button up with a plain black shirt underneath it. Her nails were painted black, and she had black bands around her wrists. A grey scarf was tied around her neck, making Chloe roll her eyes a little. And Max’s eyes… That’s what caught Chloe the most. Her eyes… She had never seen anyone look so tired.

Even Chloe, who had seen herself in a mirror more times than she wanted to admit, didn’t look as tired as Max did. The brown-haired girl looked at Chloe for a moment, before turning her head a bit and anxiously grabbing her left arm with her right hand and squeezing it tight. She had pocketed her camera before Chloe had arrived along with the photograph.

“Well that’s certainly not the reaction I expected after all this time.” Chloe said, looking at Max a bit with her keen eye. “What’s with the new fashion, I never expected you to… you know… go so emo.” Chloe smirked a little, but Max didn’t really respond. She seemed incredibly anxious, and simply looked down a bit. “Come on, Max, don’t give me that. At least pretend you’re glad to see me.”

“S… S… Sorry.” Max managed to mumble out. It was an incredibly quiet tone, but it was a step in the right direction.

“It… It’s fine, Max.” Chloe said, rolling her eyes a bit. Max just nodded in return. She slowly pointed toward her dorms and then pointed at herself, before tilting her head and pointing to Chloe. It took Chloe a minute to put Max’s body language together. She wanted to know if Chloe wanted her to leave. It was understandable, Max abandoned Chloe then it made sense she wanted to abandon Chloe now. But something was… odd about Max. Unlike other people, who were all spilling their guts about shit Chloe didn’t want to hear, Max wasn’t. Instead she stood there, like a deer in the headlights. “So, notice anything new about me?”

The other people hadn’t said anything about her horns, so it was time to test Max. The girl tilted her head a bit, and pointed at Chloe’s horns.

“Bingo, good job, Max. Good to see your sense of sight is still there.” Chloe said, pointing at Max for a second. “How about photography, still doing that kinda stuff?”

Max nodded slowly, and reached into her coat pocket, withdrawing her camera from one its larger pockets. 

“I… taking… photos...” Max mumbled again, hugging the camera close to her.

“What was that, Max? Didn’t quite hear you.” Chloe said, not hearing underneath Max’s mumbles. Max stuttered a bit as she replied at a louder tone.

“I… I love… I love uhmmm… taking photos?” Max said, hiding her face a bit behind her camera. It was like she didn’t want to be seen or exist. It would be sad, if Chloe felt anything for Max at the moment. It’d be fun to hear what Max has to say about herself, but Max seemed unaffected by whatever was happening around Chloe. She just kinda stood there, awkwardly playing with her camera.

“Umm, okay Max?”

“S… I’m sorry.” Max said, tilting her head forward a bit. She deposited the camera back into her coat pocket, and anxiously looked at Chloe. There was a mix of sorrow and hope in there, Chloe could tell. The horned-girl sighed a bit. What was she supposed to do? Just fuck off, and leave Max there alone? They were best friends since they were little, and even if she did want to just fuck off, she felt… she felt drawn to Max. She didn’t feel like abandoning Max like she did, she would be the better person here. Even though Chloe had every right to be shitty to Max.

“Ugh, it’s fine. At least you, you know, noticed the horns. Can’t say that for the rest of these fuckers around Blackhell.” Chloe said, looking around at the people who were simply going about their business. “Well, I might as well ask, you know about Rachel Amber, right?”

Max stood there for a moment, before bumbling onto her phone and pulling up a news article about the murder. She nodded for a moment, before looking to Chloe.

“Kinda.” Max mumbled, and put the phone away. “Don’t… Don’t really keep up with the… news.”

“So you haven’t heard about me, huh? They all think I did it.” Chloe said, sighing a little bit. Max shook her head a bunch.

“You… you didn’t.” Max said, with an affirmative voice. It was the most normal tone that Chloe had heard from the girl since they began conversing.

“Well… that’s one more person who believes me. But now I gotta find out who really killed her.” Chloe said, looking up to the sky. “I don’t care who gets in my way, I’m gonna find out what happened to her. Even if I’m on my own…”

Max looked at her for a moment and tugged on her sleeve.

“Not alone… You got… me?” Max asked a bit, tilting her head a little. “Sorry… I wanted to call but…”

“But what?” Chloe tilted her head. She really wanted to hear this.

“I am a… bad friend…” Max said, looking down at her feet again. “Sorry…”

Chloe didn’t know what to say to that. She guessed Max must have known she was shitty, which is a good first step at the very least. And it did feel better to have someone who isn’t her mom or David to believe in her. Max stood, waiting for a reply, rather anxiously. Chloe just smiled.

“You’re not a bad friend, Max, but…” Chloe sighed a bit, before smirking slightly. “I’m sure we can get you back up to best friend territory somehow.” 

For the first time since they began speaking, Max let out a small smile as she stopped anxiously pulling on her arm. Chloe smiled, just as her beanie fell off again. She sighed a bit, annoyed that the thing continuously kept falling the back of her head. Max tilted her head a little as Chloe picked it up and shoved it back on to her head.

“Fucking stay, you stupid beanie.” Chloe commanded it, and for the moment it seemed to be sticking. “Good good, at least that’s going right.” She looked to Max again, smiling a bit. “So… Max. Do you, well… Do you wanna come with me? And do shit? I dunno.” Chloe was kinda awkward, but Max just nodded her head a bunch. Chloe smirked. “Well… let’s get going then.”


	3. Two Whales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Max start their investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Please comment and enjoy!

“This… car?” Max said, as she pointed towards Chloe’s pickup truck. Chloe smirked a little bit as she walked toward it.

“Yep, you know it. Found it in the junkyard, fixed it up, so it’s all mine now.” Chloe retold her tale rather quickly, as she dropped the remaining posters into a box in the back of the truck, before closing it up. She waltzed over to her car door and opened it, while Max just stood there. Chloe rolled her eyes a little. “Come on, Max, it’s not like it’ll bite. I had this shit fixed up, I swear. It may not look pretty, but it drives like a charm.”

Max slowly nodded to Chloe, and followed to the other side of the car, before opening the door and getting inside it. The quiet girl buckled herself in and looked over to Chloe, who did the same. 

“Soooooo… I was thinking if we’re gonna find out who killed Rachel, we could start at the central hub of Arcadia Bay.” Chloe said, as she started up the truck. Max tilted her head a little bit in confusion, while Chloe laughed. “Two Whales, you remember that place, right? 

Max nodded.

“O… Of course.” Max squeaked out, while fiddling with her coat a little. The coat was way too big for her, and Chloe thought it suited her. Maybe even a little cute on her. Chloe quickly shook her head a bit and focused on the car. She turned the key in the ignition, and slowly drove off out of Blackhell Academy and towards the Two Whales Diner.

Chloe looked at Max for a moment as they drove. She had withdrawn her camera, again, from outside of her coat pocket and was looking at it a bit. Chloe smiled a little bit. It was nice to see that this very quiet version of Max seemed to have an enjoyment of photography still.

“So you do a lot of photography for school, Max?” Chloe asked, trying to stir up some conversation with her old friend.

Max nodded a bit.

“I… I do. I got to Blackwell on a scholarship.” Max said, looking down at her camera a bit.

“Oh wow, so she does speak!” Chloe said, amazed that she got more than two words out of Max. “But seriously, a scholarship? That means you must have mad photography skills now.”

“I umm don’t… I do? I don’t know. Mr. Jefferson says I do, but… I don’t think so.” Max said, hugging her camera to her body. “Photography makes me… happy, I guess? I don’t know. Not much makes me happy. But photography makes it all feel worth it for a moment.”

“Oh ho ho, and how’s that?” Chloe asked, wanting to know.

“Just…” Max put her finger to her lips in thought, before looking to Chloe. “Everything doesn’t seem so lonely anymore. When I have a great shot in my lens, it just feels right… Like… I’m not so alone.”

“Well that’s good to hear, at the very least.” Chloe said, leaning her hands forward a bit on the wheel. Chloe managed to get a little bit more small talk out of Max, but nothing serious or long. Max seemed a bit distant, to be quite frank. Chloe wondered what was up with her. Max was always a bit more shy than the regular kid, but now she just seemed to be on lockdown.

Soon enough the ride to the Two Whales was over, and the duo of girls had arrived at their old favorite restaurant. For Max, it filled her with nostalgic good feelings. Everything she loved about Arcadia Bay was centered around two places: Chloe’s house and the Two Whales.

“Well here we are! The old diner is still up and running. Hell, I don’t think this place will ever shut down.” Chloe said, pulling into a parking spot and unbuckling herself. Max followed in suit, and undid hers as well. She looked over to Chloe for a moment, whose face was shining a bit in the sun through the window. It looked… perfect. So Max aimed her camera at Chloe and took a photo of her. The camera buzzed as it produced its polaroid. Chloe was taken aback a bit, as Max did this, but allowed her to. The horned girl smiled as she took the photo off the front of the camera.

“Let’s have a look!” Chloe said, looking at the photo. She whistled a bit. “Wow, you… you weren’t kidding, Max. You are good at this. And you literally just took this.” Chloe was amazed at how well framed a simple shot of her was. And the horns were there as well, Chloe seeing that they had grown a bit more than the last time she had seen them.

“Wowser… thanks, Chloe.” Max said, stifling a blush. 

“So… how about I keep this photo then? As a symbol of our reunion? Sound good?” Chloe asked, putting the photo on her dashboard as Max nodded. Chloe smiled. “Awesome. Let’s get heading out then!”

Chloe got out of the car, and Max followed behind her, as Chloe put her hood back up to hide her growing horns. They were still sore, but the pain was not as terrible as it was earlier. Maybe her body was just getting used to the pain that the horns caused.

Max shuffled into the diner behind Chloe, who took a deep breath as she walked in. It had… memories here that’s for sure.

* * *

_Chloe snorted a bit as she sipped her drink, and Rachel was making stupid faces at her._

_ “You know, you are certainly one of a kind, you know that?” Chloe said, putting her mug down. _

_ “Well, I try my best, Chloe.” Rachel said, stopping her funny faces as she leaned back a bit in her booth seat.  _

_ “I know you do! I’m sure you’ll get tons of acting jobs doing those faces.” Chloe laughed a bit, feeling good for once in her life. _

_ “Pfft, oh yeah, totally. They’ll know me everywhere because of the stupid faces I make to you in a diner.” Rachel replied, holding back a laugh. “What about you though, Chloe? What are you gonna do when we get the hell out of here?” _

_ Chloe remained silent for a moment, as she looked up at the ceiling of the diner. _

_ “I don’t know. I don’t have many marketable skills.” Chloe said, rubbing the back of her head. Rachel rolled her eyes a little bit. _

_ “Says the girl who fixed up an entire junkyard pickup truck when she was only sixteen.” Rachel said, looking at Chloe seriously. “You know you could probably use those skills for good use. Instead of us just bumming around, we could get some jobs and start raising up to get out of her. More so than we already have.” _

_ Chloe rubbed the back of her head again, twisting the hair between her index finger.  _

_ “You really think I could do mechanic stuff? How do I even do that? Don’t you need like a certificate or something?” Chloe asked, looking at her reflection in the coffee. _

_ “Definitely. I think you need your GED too, but since you’re so smart, you’ll have no problem getting through that!” Rachel smirked a bit as Chloe nearly choked on her drink as she sipped some more. _

_ “Oh yeah sure, right.” Chloe said, shaking her head a bit. She always got nervous when it came to talking about getting her GED. She hadn’t been in school since she was expelled from Blackwell, which definitely wouldn’t look good on any sort of resume. It scared her, and Rachel could tell it made her anxious. _

_ “Chloe, I know it seems tough and scary, but you’re smart. You just need to study and apply that when you take it.” Rachel said, leaning forward and grabbing Chloe’s hand.  _

_ “I know… I just…” Chloe sighed a bit. “What if I can’t do it, you know?” _

_ “Chloe. I believe in you. You’re smart and talented, and you can do anything you apply yourself to do.” Rachel said, looking into Chloe’s eyes. “You just need to have faith in yourself and your own abilities like I do.” _

_ Chloe nodded, blushing slightly, and smiling.  _

_ “R… Right. Believe in myself.” Chloe said, her smile growing as she looked back at her. “If you think I can do it… Then I’ll look into it!” _

_ “That’s the spirit! Now let’s shut up, because our food is coming.” Rachel said, Joyce approaching with their food. The memory soon faded out. _

* * *

Chloe shook her head a little as Max tugged on Chloe’s sleeve.

“You okay?” Max asked, tilting her head again.

“Yeah... Yeah…” Chloe shook her head once more, and looked at Max with a weak smile. “I’ll be fine, just remembered some stuff.”

“Oh, okay…” Max nodded, still a bit worried, but Chloe waved the worry off. 

“Come on, Max, let’s go interrogate some people.” She said, scanning the place for anyone who might know anything. Joyce was wiping down some of the tables, and Chloe tugged on Max to not make direct eye contact at the moment. “My mom won’t know anything that we don’t already know, so let’s start with someone else… Oh hey look, looks like Justin and Trevor are having a lover’s spat. Let’s start with them.”

Max nodded, as the two headed over toward the skater guys. Max only knew them in passing. They were skaters… that’s about all she knew. She tended to zone out when it came to other people. As they approached, Justin and Trevor stopped arguing over whatever it was and both made notice of the odd duo who were approaching them.

“Yoooo heyyyyy.” Justin said, looking at Chloe for a moment. “What’s going on, I haven’t seen you in a while.” Trevor just remained quiet, taken aback by the girl rumored to have murdered Rachel. He kicked Justin under the table, but Justin seemed to have been a bit too high to really make notice of Chloe or her horns. “And look you’ve got the oh-so quiet Max with you.”

Max hid behind Chloe a bit, and bit her lip in anxiety. Chloe sighed a bit and looked at the two. 

“See, I’m not looking for trouble. I just need to know if either of you know anything about Rachel or her death.” Chloe said, looking at Trevor first. Her horns tingled a bit.

“There’s… it was you, though. You killed Rachel! And I thought we were all friends or something. But you killed Rachel, and shit, even though you were dating her… Fuck.” Trevor said, looking down at the table. “Everyone loved Rachel and you took her away, that’s really shitty of you to do.”

Chloe sighed, and looked to Justin. She knew she wasn’t getting anything useful from Trevor. 

“Woah, you know, I fucking really hate Trevor right now. You know Dana Ward, the girl who works here? She’s so fucking cool, but Trevor here… He got to her first! And now look at him, he thinks he’s all high and mighty about Rachel, even though he’s dating Dana! Like what the hell, man? I thought we were bros, but you took her away from me!” Justin lamented. Chloe couldn’t believe she was getting nowhere even with her horns.

“Hey, do we really have to do this now?” Trevor said, his attention turning to Justin. “She likes me, okay? I told you we were dating, do we really have to go over this again?”

“Fuck you, Trevor. I was in love with her, and now look where we’re at!” Justin yelled, as Chloe waved Max to sit down with her at a different booth. Max watched the two go at it, getting slightly more personal as they argued about Dana. Max sat down with Chloe, as she sighed a little bit. She looked really down.

“Ugh, why can’t things just go the way I want them to?” Chloe asked herself, looking over to Max. Max shrugged a little as she looked at Chloe.

“Sometimes… you need to look at people… who knew her best…” Max managed to choke out, before hiding her head in her coat a little. That’s when it struck Chloe, like a lightning bolt.

“Someone who knew her! Of course!” Chloe looked happy all of a sudden. “Frank would definitely know if something happened that night!” Her mood soured a little bit as she thought about Frank though. “Yeah… Right…”

“What’s wrong…?”

“We… we had an argument the night she died.” Chloe said, looking away from Max. “I’d rather not talk about it… but Frank has to be involved. Also before you ask, he was… an acquaintance of mine and Rachel’s. And also my dealer. But don’t go around telling my mom that because here she comes.”

Max turned her head and saw Joyce coming towards them. Chloe made sure her hood was up more, as not to freak out her mom over the horns. Max was definitely nervous, wondering how Joyce would take her sudden reappearance with Chloe.

“Well I’ll be, Max Caulfied?”

“Hi… Joyce…” Max squeaked out, being overtaken with anxiety and nerves.

“Well look at you two. Back together again, I see.” Joyce said. “Could I get either of you anything to eat or drink?”

“Ugh, no mom! We’re just here trying to figure things out.”

“You don’t need to shout Chloe. And what’s with that ridiculous hood on your head, you’re in a diner!” Joyce said, sighing a bit. “I hope she’s not giving you too much trouble, Max. It’s just good to see you two together again.”

“She… Chloe isn’t.” Max sputtered out, playing with her fingers a bit.

“Gee, thanks for the utmost confidence in me.” Chloe said, rolling her eyes a bit. She looked at Joyce for a moment, not realizing just because her horns were hidden, her powers were turned off.

“I’m just… worried about you Chloe.” Joyce said, sighing again. “Ever since William died, I’ve been worried about you. I feel like you wouldn’t be this way if… if I were a better mother. If I hadn’t asked him to drive me home that day…”

“Woah, woah, what the hell?” Chloe said, not wanting this to happen in public of all places.

“I married David to fill that hole in my heart. You may not like him Chloe, but he helps fill the hole left by your father. But I know sometimes what he does is… not ideal or good for you.”

“Okay, I don’t need to hear this right now.” Chloe stood up from her seat, and walked around Joyce who was continuing to speak. Chloe didn’t hear her as she tugged on Max’s sleeve and dragged the poor girl out of the diner and back to her truck.

“What was… all that?” Max asked, tilting her head again curiously. Chloe had to admit, Max looked cute when she tilted her head in curiosity. Chloe sighed a bit as she tugged her hood down, revealing her horns again. Max looked at them for a moment.

“These… I’m pretty sure these make people tell me stuff I don’t wanna hear. First, Victoria Chase, that bitch from Blackwell, told me how glad she was Rachel was dead. Followed by her crony saying some other personal shit. Then the dynamic duo in there were spilling beans I didn’t want to hear about at all. And now Joyce! Joyce telling me all about how she blames herself! I don’t wanna hear it from anyone, Max! I just wanna… I wanna hear her voice again.” Chloe sighed. She looked at the time on her clock on the dashboard. It was getting to be a bit late to interrogate Frank. That’d need to wait for tomorrow. “You want me to take you back to Blackwell?”

Max nodded.

“S...sure. I’m a little tired.” Max admitted, looking down. “Today was… a lot.”

“You bet your ass it was.” Chloe said, looking to Max. “And I wanna see your dorm room, by the way. I wanna see what current Max is like behind the scenes.”

“Oh... okay.” Max gulped a little. This was going to be interesting, that’s for sure.


	4. Max's Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Max head to her room, where Chloe learns a little bit more about her old friend.

The drive back to Blackwell was simple and sweet. Max seemed nervous, but Chloe assured her she would be fine.

“D… Do you have to go into my dorm?” Max asked, getting out of the car and scurrying around to where Chloe was.

“Yes, Max. I’d have to see it eventually, but if you really don’t want me to see it right now, we can always wait until tomorrow or something.” Chloe replied, pulling into a single parking space this time. It was getting late, and Chloe didn’t want to head back home just yet. She wasn’t feeling the mood to be yelled at by captain paranoid tonight.

“No… It’s okay. My room just…” Max looked toward the dorms, and sighed. “You’ll… You’ll see.”

Max sighed, and started walking towards the dormitory, while Chloe followed behind. A couple of stragglers were still hanging around the front of the school, and looked at the duo as they walked. Chloe made sure to look at them with her evilest eyes, and they quickly went back to what they were doing, feeling fear after looking at Chloe.

The walk to the dorms went by quickly, and the hallway was devoid of living life. Everyone was either in their room, or doing something else entirely. Max took a sigh of relief as she rapidly made her way down towards her room. Chloe made notice that everyone had a board outside their room, except for Max.

“Soooo where’s yours, Max?” Chloe asked, looking to Max as she unlocked the door to her room. She pointed to the empty space where her board would be, and Max looked down. She didn’t respond as she opened the door to her room and entered, as she waved Chloe in as well.

Chloe sighed at the lack of a response, and went into the room. She was a little taken aback by what she saw. The room was… very reflecting of what she had seen in Max. A couch sat up against the wall, with a bed sitting opposite of it. The bed had a black blanket on it with a couple of pillows as well. The only thing that seemed out of place was a teddy bear sitting in between the pillows. The wall had a couple of Max’s photos hung up on it as well. A hi-fi system sat near her bed, so apparently Max liked to listen to music. A desk sat up against the wall near the windows, where Max’s laptop lay. The thing that was most noticeable about Max’s room though were the heavy storm curtains. It was as if Max didn’t want any light to penetrate her room.

Chloe walked over towards them, but didn’t touch. She didn’t want to upset Max at all. Everything just seemed so surreal. Her room was incredibly devoid of personality, with a little bit of it being the pictures that Max hung up on her wall.

“So… this is it, huh?” Chloe asked, sitting down on the couch. “Seems… cozy enough, I guess.”

“Sorry… I just…” Max sat down on her bed, and sighed a bit. “I just don’t have much stuff in terms of personal items, I guess.” After that, Max took her oversized coat off and tossed it to the floor, still wearing her two shirts. She floundered across the bed and rolled around on it. Chloe snorted a bit as Max made herself comfortable on her bed.

“Someone certainly seems comfy.” Chloe said, leaning forward a bit.

“My bed is… very nice.” Max said, laying down on her bed a bit. Just as she made herself comfortable, however, she got up. She looked uncomfortable, and she quickly made her way out of the room and headed out. “Bathroom…!”

“Understood, Max.” Chloe said, as she looked around the bedroom. She got up from the couch and decided to do some snooping. There had to be more to this room than met the eye. She got up and headed towards Max’s hi-fi. It was nice, but she needed to know… what kind of music was Max into these days? She opened up the drawer underneath the system to look. She found a couple of CDs and snorted a bit. Emo and indie music galore sat in this treasure trove of CDs. She had Death Cab for Cutie and Hawthorne Heights, among many others like Mayday Parade and Secondhand Serenade. “Why am I not surprised somehow?” This new Max seemed to fit her music tastes very well. She moved the CDs a bit to see what else was under there.

One thing she made notice of was a photo album, simply title Max and Chloe.

“What the…?” Chloe took the album out of the drawer. The book looked fairly well used, as if Max went through it a lot of the time. Chloe sat down on the edge of the bed and opened it up. It was filled with a bunch of photos from when they were kids in the early 2000s to when Max eventually moved away. There were many photos and it made Chloe… feel those old feelings she had when she used to hang around with Max. “Why would she… still have these?” She had to wonder what Max was doing in the bathroom for so long, but she decided to continue looking around. She opened the drawer where her computer was, but the only thing that was in there were pens and notebooks for classes. Putting the album back, she closed it up to make sure it was like she was never there. 

“Where the fuck is she?” Chloe wondered, just as Max headed back into the room.

“Sorry… I had…” Max looked down and away from Chloe. “Sorry.”

Chloe frowned a bit, not inferring much from it, but put her arm around Max. 

“It’s all good. So tell me, what’s with the photos on the wall though?” Chloe said, pointing to the wall with a few photos. Max frowned a bit.

“I used to put all my photos up on that wall. It was my collection of everything I made.” Max said, walking over to her wall. “But then someone came in where when I was showering… and they ruined it all. I wish I knew who did it… I had to have the photos removed because someone painted over them all.”

Chloe was… a little more than angry at hearing that. Why is she not surprised some asshole at Blackhell would be up to that? Max looked upset, though, and it looked like she didn’t like thinking about what happened to her photos.

“Hey, I’ll fucking find out who destroyed your picture wall, okay?” Chloe said, walking over to her friend and placing her hand on her shoulder. “It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Do you know anybody who doesn’t like you?”

Max remained silent and looked down.

“Nobody ... likes me.” Max said, sitting back down on her bed and squeezing her teddy bear a bit. It made her calm down, but the sight made Chloe even angrier. Max didn’t deserve this… She had only been with her for a good part of the day, but even Chloe could tell Max was wracked by guilt over something. Enough guilt to cause her to become this withdrawn? It was crazy that anyone could target someone this quiet, and it pissed Chloe off. “But Victoria and her friends… get at me the most.”

“Why am I not fucking surprised?” Chloe said, groaning a bit. She looked over to the door, and smirked. “I have an idea how to get back at that bitch.”

“Ho...How?” 

“Easy.” Chloe pulled out her phone, and opened up the app for voice recording memos. “I’m just gonna go on down to Victoria’s room and ask her. Once she confesses, we can show that jackass Wells what she did. It’s easy. Even if Wells is a complete tool, he can’t go against actual physical proof of who destroyed your room, right?”

Max nodded slowly, as Chloe just smirked. 

“You stay in here, okay? I’ll be right back!” Chloe opened up the door, and closed it behind her as she made her way across the hall to Victoria’s room. She rolled her eyes at the Gandhi quote that Victoria had written on her mood board. “What a fucking hyporcrite.”

She proceeded onwards, and knocked on the door a few times. She could hear shuffling from behind the door in the room, and it soon opened, revealing Victoria. She looked like she was getting ready to settle down for the night. And she didn’t look very pleased at Chloe.

“Ugh, what the hell do you want? Why are you even here?”

“Visiting a friend, also do you know who tore apart Max Caulfield’s room?” Chloe asked simply, her horns tingling a little bit. She knew that meant they were doing their job. Victoria looked flabbergasted as she stared at Chloe.

“Of course, I had Nathan do it. Max is such emo hipster trash. She thinks she can get away with anything in Mr. Jefferson’s class with her shitty photos! But in the end, she still gets away with being his favorite student even if she doesn’t even fucking talk.” Victoria said, rolling her eyes a bit. “It’s so fucking fun to make her feel even worse about herself, it takes her down a notch or two from where she fucking thinks she is. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have anime to watch.” Victoria slammed the door shut, and Chloe just looked at the door. That was certainly unexpected. She was pissed off at her for daring to bully Max, but at the same time she was watching anime? That could be used against the most popular girl in school, that’s for sure.

She looked at her phone, and sure enough, it was still recording. A confession from Victoria about the richest idiot in school should have been good enough, right? Chloe smirked, happy that her powers seemed to have worked this time around. Whistling a bit, she turned right around into Max’s room and stopped the recording.

Max was sitting in her room, rocking back and forth a bit to keep herself calm and anxiety free. Chloe smiled a bit as she held up her phone triumphantly.

“Did you…?”

“Hella yeah I did!” Chloe said, playing back the audio to Max. Max was taken aback a bit by everything. Victoria did it? Of course she did, Max thought. And to make sure she wasn’t ever caught in the act, she had Nathan Prescott do it? Max sighed a bit, knowing that Nathan never got in trouble because his dad pretty much owned the school at this point. “Now to show this to Wells, at some point, of course.”

“Oh… Are you sure that’s a umm… like a good idea?” Max asked, looked up at Chloe.

“Wells is a drunken tool, sure, but he can’t hide behind anything with direct proof. This is right from the horse’s mouth. That’ll teach them a thing or two before fucking with us, right?” Chloe asked, flashing a toothy grin to Max. The brown-haired girl blushed and hid her face in her grey scarf. Chloe laughed a bit as she sat down next to Max. It really was like no time had passed at all between the two. “Right? Chloe and Max back at it again, just like old times.”

Max nodded a bit, still blushing, causing Chloe to laugh again.

“Stop hiding in there, Max.” Chloe said, putting an arm around Max and pulling her into her. Max withdrew her head from her scarf, and nodded to Chloe. Chloe was just glad to have someone by her side again, and Max was as well. “I hope you know, I’m glad you’re around again, Max. Starting tomorrow, though, we’ll have to be looking into this Rachel thing some more.”

Hearing that made Max’s heart sink a little. That was right. Chloe was only here for her help with Rachel. She’d probably be tossed away when Chloe was done with her, just like how Max had moved away… But for now this was nice. She’d be the best assistant to Chloe that she could be. 

The two hung around for a little bit longer, before Chloe decided to head out for home.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow, Max!” Chloe said, as she left the room. Max waved a bit as she left, and closed the door behind her. The brown-haired girl felt a pit in her stomach as she locked up the door. As much fun as Chloe was today, she felt that old familiar feeling that she felt a lot of the time. This wasn’t permanent, Max thought. She didn’t deserve Chloe. This was just temporary. Max was a negative thinker, something that came along when she was forced to say goodbye to Chloe. She hugged her bear tight and took a few deep breaths, as she laid down into bed. She could feel that old familiar itch in her arms, but she resisted. For now, she just wanted to rest.


End file.
